Dragon Quest Builders

So many comparisons between Dragon Quest Builders and Minecraft. I agree that there are similarities, from punching down trees to mining components needed for crafting, but there’s enough differences to not say they are so similar that if you like Minecraft, you’ll like Dragon Quest Builders. I can’t say that I don’t like either, but what I do like about both are for different reasons, not because they are similar games.

It took me a bit of time to really get into either. When I first played Dragon Quest Builders, I was trying to get my head into what I needed to do. Once I settled on following what I was being asked to accomplish for each quest, it was then that I go hooked. In Minecraft, once I got my head into what I needed to do, it took longer for me to decide what else I wanted to do.

Although both games are open world, Minecraft is far more keeping yourself alive from having food and eating to staying in at night to not get killed by monsters. Dragon Quest Builders is having food and eating to just making sure your weapons are in good shape so you can stay alive at night (or just get indoors and sleep, just like Minecraft).

Having quests to accomplish is a driving force behind keeping Dragon Quest Builders exciting and interesting. The more you do, the more you learn and the more you can explore. I find that I can play around in Minecraft for an hour or so and be done. I find that I can start Dragon Quest Builders and get into questing and accomplishing tasks for many hours and wanting to keep going even though my controller is close to dying and I need to recharge it.

I’ve been progressing through Chapter 1 and looking forward to seeing what else there will be to do to expand the city in the next chapters. You seem to be free to gather materials, build whatever you’d like throughout the land, but just a small segment is open at first to build in to level up the base score.

Towards the end of Chapter 1, you’re tasked with gathering rockbomb shards that can be tricky to get. I found that with fast swings of a steel sword seems to take down the rockbomb monsters and they drop a shard as they break apart. Wait too long and they explode, usually killing you and blowing large craters in the land where they exploded. Great way to gather a lot of material but a terrible thing to happen if you’re close to a structure you may have built.

Since the area you build in to start off with in Chapter 1 is relatively small, I’ve found myself wishing I had build more vertical then just filling the small plot of space horizontally. But you always have the option to tear down what you may not like and rebuilt in a way that would be better for your taste.

I haven’t gotten completed with Chapter 1 as I’m writing this, but I’m hopeful that once Chapter 2 starts, the space will open up and I’ll just rebuild new structures and rebuild in a way to help create a central courtyard and better paths from one place to another.

The introduction to the game throughout Chapter 1 is very well paced to get you thinking about the future of really rebuilding the city in a way that will be fun but functional. I have found it really interesting that a game that is styled and designed to look like it’s for kids, really does give something for the adults to enjoy and play for hours.